Question: Could you tell us a little bit about your character and what we can expect to see from her in the show?

Laura Leighton: Well, Ashley Marin is the single mother on the show, parenting one of the girls — one of the pretty little liars, and Hanna is her daughter.  And Ashley is working to keep it all together, as any single mom has to.  She's a business woman; she's got a bit of an edge.  She's very matter-of-fact, and she places very high value on appearances.  She wants to maintain her image and pulling herself together every day is high on her list.

So when her daughter makes the mistakes and she needs to cover those up, she acts in desperation and thinks of the best thing she can think of at the time.  Like how she should try to cover up and what's the best way to do it.  She's really just trying to maintain appearances and her life and her lifestyle.  She's struggling to balance it all.

Question: Where does the conflict within Ashley come from? Why is she so willing to overlook Hanna's mistakes?

Laura Leighton: I don't know that she's willing to overlook it.  I think she's definitely interested in making sure the community of Rosewood doesn't see Hanna's mistakes.  I think she's very interested in projecting a certain image, and maintaining that image, and I think it's become harder after she's divorced and still trying to keep everything going the way it was. 

So when her daughter makes this misstep, and the first thing she does in the pilot is she's caught shoplifting, like God forbid anybody should find out.  I think that's the driving force and that scenario is that she just doesn't want anybody to know that something like that could have gone so wrong.  So she desperately looks for a quick fix to that, just to make sure that nobody really finds out, or that it doesn't snowball.

Question: How did you find out about this role?

Laura Leighton: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS is a pilot script that was going around during pilot casting season, and everyone I knew had read it, and everyone was loving it and hoping to audition for it.  I was going through the process.  I read the script, loved it, and auditioned for the role of Ashley.  I waited to find out who they were going to cast as Hanna, and I was lucky enough to match up with Ashley Benson.

Question: What do you find challenging about the role?

Laura Leighton: It's a juicy part, which I love.  It's challenging, always, to have a character that's acting sort of outside your own moral compass; making choices that you wouldn't necessarily make.  Ashley is certainly finding herself in the position of making some parenting choices and choices in general for herself and her family that are a little bit shocking. 

You have to find a way to justify that within the character and go, "Okay, what kind of person would do this, and where is she coming from?"  And it's a challenge.  It's fun.  It's always fun to figure that out, and certainly more fun than playing someone who is very boring and milk toast and predictable.

Question: How does playing this character compare to some of your previous roles?

Laura Leighton: Going from Sydney [in MELROSE PLACE] to this character, I definitely think they're completely different characters, different roles within the show, and the shows themselves are different.  But it is funny.  I find myself playing a character who makes some controversial choices.  I don't know if it's because once you play one role that goes in that direction it's easy to see you doing it again, and some people are able to envision you in that role and you're more likely to get cast.  I don't know. 

I'm happy to have the opportunity.  Like I said, I think it's always much more interesting to play somebody who's got some gray areas, and maybe a dark side and some questionable attributes.  There's some humanity in them.  It's just interesting.  It's interesting to try to figure it out, and I think it's more fun than playing somebody predictable.

Question: Are you drawn to strong female characters?

Laura Leighton: I think so.  I think I must be.  I like the challenge, and at the same time I'm enjoying playing with this one; a real mother-daughter relationship.  I would say that Sydney was sort of silly in the younger years, and then later just off kilter and not quite, didn't have her head in reality sort of thing.  But this is a real relationship with real mother-daughter issues and conversations, and I really like that. 

Question: How much harder do you think it is for a woman today to be a mother and still be a professional?

Laura Leighton: I think it's really hard.  I think it's the ultimate challenge.  I think women want a career as much as men, and yet motherhood is probably the hardest job of all.  To try to do them both at the same time is amazingly difficult and people all over the world are facing that challenge.  I appreciate it and recognize it and respect it.

Question: Do you relate to your character of Ashley Marin?

Laura Leighton: I certainly relate to her being a mother and trying to juggle her career and make parenting choices and connect with her daughter.  I think those are just really sort of classic themes that are in the show.  And I think that throughout the various story lines there is with all the different children in the show with their parents, there is a unique relationship with each story.  And I think that audiences will be drawn to that because there's so much that you can relate to within families.  Conversations that occur, or just the everyday life of getting ready in the morning and the craziness of everybody needs to go here or there.  They're just sort of classic themes. 

But at the same time, the idea that kids go to school for so many hours of their day and they're away from their parents — parents don't know what goes on with their kids in many, many ways.  They lead this whole other life with their school friends and their sports friends and this entire life for most of their day that parents aren't a part of.  And to try to maintain that relationship and know what's going on with your kid and keep your dialogue open and really connect with them, it's a challenge.

Question: Is it a show your own children will be allowed to watch?

Laura Leighton: I do have a couple of older children — teenagers — that I think are within the demographic and it could be appropriate and definitely appealing for them.  My younger children definitely not, but they're use to that.  Just sort of like that's where we go to work, and as far as their concerned they'd rather we'd just stay home and play.

Question: Have you picked up any of the books?

Laura Leighton: I did.  After the pilot, I was interested in checking out the books and I read one-and-a-half books, and decided to put them down and not spoil the surprise.  It's been so fun to read these scripts, and the cliff hangers are great, and the suspense throughout every script.  It's just a page-turner.  It's been so fun to read.  For everyone in the cast, we feel the same way.  It's been a lot of fun not to know too many of the things that might come up.

Question: If you had to give one special piece of advice to an aspiring actor or actress, what would it be?

Laura Leighton: A piece of advice.  Wow.  I think anybody who wants to make acting their business and their career; I think you just have to be so passionate about it.  You have to love it so much, because there are so many obstacles.  It's such a difficult business to count on that I think you just have to love it.  And if you do, then simply follow your passion.

Interviews With the Actresses

(source: clevverTV.com)

Actresses Talk About Their Characters

(source: ABC Family)

Troian Bellisario

(Spencer)

Ashley Benson

(Hanna)

Lucy Hale

(Aria)

Shay Mitchell

(Emily)